400 Years of Go in Japan

400 Years of Go in Japan by Andrew Grant and John Fairbairn, published by Slate and Shell.

Publisher's blurb (broken link as of July 2023, but it's archived on the Wayback Machine).

Table of Contents

to be added

Sample Material

to be added

Reviews

(written in 2011)

Hyperpapeterie: This book is great for anyone who is interested in the history of Go. Some of the material can already be found on Sensei's, but it's scattered and less detailed here. In particular, the book goes beyond biographical facts and presents a lot of the intrigues of the day, not just the most infamous like Jowa's machinations or Shusai's myoshu.

The book contains chunks of history, accompanied by representative games. The comments on the games are often minimal, but you can get a feel for the style of older games, and some people like to play through games without commentary. But first and foremost it's a historical book.

My biggest reservation is that I can't compare it to GoGoD, which is the 800 lb gorilla in any discussion of Go History. I suspect there's a lot of overlap, and wouldn't be surprised if John and T. Mark's work is more comprehensive. When I next feel like I can afford to spend money on Go materials, I'll buy it and tell you how they compare.